In my understanding, the “western diet” to me could be better spoken as the “modern diet” or the “new diet.” The cornerstone of the western diet is refined foods and chemically produced substitutes to food, which Pollan claims is not real food in the first place. A great example of this is the classic experiment done by Kerin O’Dea. The idea was to take ten people from their modern homeland and modern diet and place them in a remote area where only natural food could be had. “The ten Aborigines returned to their traditional homeland, an isolated region of northwest Australia more than a day's drive by off-road vehicle from the nearest town. From the moment they left civilization, the men and women in the group had no access to store food or beverages; the idea was for them to rely exclusively on foods they hunted and gathered themselves.” (Page 86) She found that within a month their overall health was greatly increased and average weight fell by over 18 pounds. Pollan also talks about how food is now made to appeal to the masses, “Thus was one of the main staples of the Western diet cut loose from its moorings in place and time and marketed on the basis of image rather than nutritional value. In this, white flour was a modern industrial food, one of the first.” (Page 108). Furthermore, he goes on to explain how food is manufactured to last longer on shelves and have the ability to be transported anywhere without spoiling. This is done by removing the nutrients. The nutrients attract bacteria, therefore having a shorter life. The “Western Diet” is simply the way first world countries eat and how “food” is made today.
Pollan uses his “In defense of Food” book to harshly criticize the “Western Diet.” He backs his argument by using statistics from the USDA, “One of the most momentous changes in the American diet since 1909 (when the USDA first began keeping track) has been the increase in the percentage of calories coming from sugars, from 13 percent to 20 percent. Add to that the percentage of calories coming from carbohydrates (roughly 40 percent, or ten servings, nine of which are refined) and Americans are consuming a diet that is at least half sugars in one form or another.” He attributes these excessive increases to food companies whom add glucose to their products. Our bodies cannot produce enough insulin to keep up with the increased intake of this sugar. In recent years we have transformed our diets from consuming more seed than leaves. Seeds do not give us nearly the amount of nutrients we need. “Leaves provide a host of critical nutrients a body can't get from a diet of refined seeds. There are the antioxidants and phytochemicals; there is the fiber; and then there are the essential omega-3 fatty acids found in leaves, which some researchers believe will turn out to be the most crucial missing nutrient of all.” (Page 125) Pollan also says that we are feeding our animals more food from refined seeds and not leaves. This has a domino effect on the meats we will eventually eat from that animal. We will ultimately not intake the same chemicals in the meats as we have decades ago. “The steer itself has been raised on a Western Diet, and that diet has rendered its meat substantially different—in the type and amount of fat in it as well as its vitamin content—from the beef our ancestors ate.” (Page 143) Basically, the “Western Diet” is criticized by Pollan in two ways: food is made cheaper and quick, also the new way food is made forces nutrients to be in lower amounts and does not include all the essential chemicals our body needs.
Pollan claims, “You are what you eat eats too.” He says, any animal meat we eat, we also eat the food that animal ate. The industrial food chain is often overlooked when one chooses food to eat. This food chain is a strong reason for how meats can be so cheap. The chemicals that an animal eats gets digested and transferred throughout the animal’s body and ultimately into the consumer’s stomach. Pollan also says that we should buy more organic meats and that paying a higher price is worth the dollars and how you cannot put a price on one’s healthy eating habits.
Personally, I slightly agree with Pollan’s views on premium foods buying recommendations. I agree with his idea that when an animal eats something the substances will eventually reach the stomach of a person who eats that animal. Also his idea of the industry food chain does make sense, but there is no way around it. There would not be enough animals in the world to go around without genetically designing meat substitutes. Finally, his idea about paying more for meats are worth it does not make full sense to me. Personally, it all depends on your situation. If a family is on a low income then paying more for premium meets would lead to paying less for other foods, especially plants.
After reading “In Defense of Food” I was surprised to learn that the nutrients on food may depend on a considerable amount of combinations. Meaning the overall health benefits of food can be more significant if we eat certain foods together. For example if you drink coffee with your steak your body will be able to absorb all the iron in the steak, which it would not be able to do without the coffee. When eating bagels, one should spread it with peanut butter because the peanut butter will slow the absorption of the carbohydrates from the bagel. The are many more examples down this road, but society does a good job in telling one to eat foods together or to not eat foods together.
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